


Root's sister

by hollsteinlover



Category: Angel: the Series, Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2019-06-15 18:28:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15418977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hollsteinlover/pseuds/hollsteinlover
Summary: Turns out Root has a sister - and it's everyone's favorite, fred of angel fame!(A.K.A the totally useless Person of Interest / Angel crossover)





	1. Zoe meets Fred

**Author's Note:**

> just a little thing I wrote on the side.

Zoe was buried in her econ 101 book when Samantha Groves plopped down beside her. Zoe idly wondered if it was good news or bad news. God knew it could go either way with the secretive girl. 

"Zoe" she said.

"Samantha" Zoe answered.

"How've you been?" Samantha wanted to know and Zoe snorted at the question.

"Sam..." She said in a dangerously low voice. 

"What?” replied Samantha, her eyes wide open “can't I wonder how my best friend is doing?" 

“First” answered Zoe “I am not your best friend. I’m not sure you have any friends. Second, most people can, but we both know you're not like most." 

Samantha almost cooed at the barely hidden insult. 

"Aww, and I thought it would be me who would have to tell you nice things”.

Zoe sighed. This was going nowhere. Trying to get Samantha riled up was near impossible but Zoe still thought there had to be something hidden behind the veneer of fake smiles and put-on jovialty.

"what do you want sam?" asked Zoe. The quicker she went to the point the quicker she’d be able to get back to her book. And she had a test tomorrow so the quicker the better. 

Samantha inspected her fingers

"I don't know if I ever told you this” she began and Zoe almost snorted. She could have counted on one hand the things she knew about the woman and most were rumors at best “but I have a twin sister. Name's fred" 

A sister. Somehow that didn’t mesh with what she knew of her. “ok..."

“We spent our childhood together but when I went to the university she decided she wanted to become an actress and she moved to Los Angeles.” Samantha sighed “I told her she was much too nice to be an actress but it’s not like she would have listened to me anyway. That was a few years back.”

Samantha played with a blade of grass “We used to be close but we lost touch and it was more my fault than hers. But I kept track of what she was up to and a few years back but she developed peculiar beliefs. Had to spend a few months away, for her own sake."

‘Now that sounded more like the Samantha she knew’ thought Zoe but thought better than saying it out loud. 

"peculiar beliefs? Isn't that what L.A.'s known for?" 

"that may be so,” agreed Samantha “ but even there it would be weird if you said you believe in vampires, demons.” She made a small pause as if she hesitated to say the next thing “Dragons" 

"Dragons? like actual dragons?" Zoe wanted to clarify.

"Yep” Sam confirmed “fire-breathing, wing-flapping, treasure-hoarding creatures. And not very nice ones either, from what she’s told people“ 

"Do you believe her?” asked Zoe. She was genuinely curious. Somehow the depths of Sam’s mind had always fascinated her even though there was so much she didn’t know about her. 

Sam breathed in deeply. ”That is not the point. She’s my twin sister, it’s not like I have a lot of choices here.

"What IS the point then? Not that I don't like listening to you, but...." 

Samantha raised her hands. “I know, I know, time's a ticking". 

“Damn right it is” said Zoe, her econ book still clutched in her hands

”Well, Fred’s back, she’s much better and I’ve convinced her that coming here is the best idea for her. But, I need you to look after her because I'll be away for a few months." 

Zoe’s eyes went wide “you what? why? I thought you loved it here?“ 

“I do,” answered Samantha. “And that’s why I’m leaving. I can’t risk that establishment’s good reputation and I need to take care of.. business. Serious business. Might not come back at all." 

“Do I want to know what kind of business that is exactly?”

“No offense, Zoe, but I haven’t even told Fred. Do you see where I’m going with this?”

"Sam..." 

Samantha looked over her shoulder interrupting her ”can we talk about this later? Cause Fred happens to be here and I’d rather she didn’t overhear all the dirty things her sister is going to get into.”

“She’s here?”

“Yep. And please, Zoe? Don’t mention the dragons?”

Zoe was glad Fred made her appearance because she had no idea how to answer that. She was glad to see the two twins side by side. She wouldn’t have put it above Samantha to play an elaborated prank on her involving a fake twin sister and a wig. But here they were, side by side and so Zoe had to begrudgingly accept that there was some merit to Sam’s story.

“I’m Fred. Nice to meet you” she said extending her arm. Zoe grabbed her hand and was surprised at her strong grip.

“Zoe. Likewise” she answered.

Fred smiled, an open, kind smile Zoe immediately liked. “If my sister’s told you about my experiences, I seriously doubt that”

Samantha sighed “Fred, I told you you can trust her. And Zoe”, she added “she’ll be a good friend. Better than me”

Zoe was about to say something but Samantha held up her hand Zoe remembered one thing she knew for certain about the woman: Samantha did not do feelings well. Or at all.

“Come on, let me show you around campus,” Sam said, grabbing Fred’s arm “You’re gonna love it here”.

That left Zoe alone again. Alas, the silence didn’t last as she felt another body sit next to her. Judging by the sound of food being slurped and munched with great enthusiasm she had a pretty good idea of who it could be too.

“So I see you met the kid,” said Sameen, forgetting to eat a second to say a word.

“The kid?” Zoe turned her attention who was giving her undivided attention to a sandwich. “They’re twins shaw. They’re supposed to be the same age. That’s how twins work”.

“I know,” acknowledged Sameen “but still. Root, she’s older”

Zoe had to remember Shaw was one of the few people who had agreed to call Sam by the new name. Root. Zoe had no idea where that was coming from to be honest.

“I’m gonna try and convince her to let me tag along”, continued Sameen “if that makes you feel better”

Zoe thought about it “kinda does, yeah” she said.

Shaw let out a little smile, which was rare enough for her. “It’s ok. I know you wouldn’t want her to die”.

’That was one way to put it’ thought Zoe bemusedly.

“Do you know what her pressing business is?” she asked Sameen.

She shrugged “I don’t and I don’t care.” Zoe looked at her and she went on 

“I know there’s a lot of bad people out there. And I know she wants to… take care of it. I’m just making sure she doesn’t die trying.”

“And you’re ok with it?”

“It’s what she wants to do. You know how she gets when she has a plan in her pretty little head. And anyway, Root is dangerous, but so am I. The two of us together nothing can stop us”

Zoe had no doubt Shaw believed that.

“Anyway. Good talk. Wish me luck? I gotta go grab something to eat”

“Sameen, I just saw you wolf down a giant-ass sandwich”

“Zoe, it was just a sandwich,” she said in a tone of voice that said ‘how can you even say that?’.” One. How the hell is that supposed to be enough?”

With that she had stood up, shaking her head, leaving Zoe to wonder where the hell the fit and lean stored away her food cause it sure didn’t show on her body.


	2. Say hello to Illyria

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zoe and Fred have a frank exchange of ideas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not gonna lie, this is probably gonna veer on the darker side of things. So if that's not your cup of tea...

“So…” 

“Yeah…”

Zoe said, drumming with her fingers on the plastic linoleum of the restaurant she and Fred were. Sameen’s single-minded fixation on food had made Zoe realize she hadn’t had something to eat since this morning’s breakfast and she figured it would be easiest to talk to Fred with a few pancakes in her stomach.   
Zoe had never found it difficult to get people to talk, something about her made people open up their mouths. Even people like Root and Sameen - or Shaw, as she preferred to be called. Obviously, they had heavily redacted their pasts, to the point of hardly giving any information about it, but other than that they were more than happy to talk to Zoe. And Zoe never intruded, figuring that if they wanted to talk about it, they would. 

Root’s smiling sunshine of a sister was a different case though. Zoe had thought it would be much easier to have a conversation with her than with the two mysterious girls, but something about Fred left her tongue-tied.

She finally went with “so this is awkward”, never a bad icebreaker in her opinion, but that only earned her a puzzled look from Fred.

“What is? That Sam never told you she had a sister?” she asked.  
“No, I think I’m over that,” admitted Zoe with a little shrug, wishing she didn’t give her the full attention of her intense brown eyes.

“That I’m, you know” Fred continued, leaning her head forward as if about to reveal a big secret, “loopy?”.

Zoe put a hand through her brown hair. “Well, I’m not gonna say that makes it easier for me” she finally admitted “but that’s not it either. I mean, I am friends with your sister” she added, trying to lighten up the mood that was getting way too intense way too fast for her.

“Oh, I think I got it” Fred finally said, snapping her fingers.

“It’s that you and my sister had sexual relationships”.

Zoe almost choked on her coffee at Fred’s casual remark while Fred just bore a smug grin on her face that would have been just as suited on her sister’s.

“What? Was that supposed to be a secret?”

“How did you find out?” Zoe asked, “Did she tell you?”

“Nah, still good old secretive Sam, I’m afraid,” said Fred and Zoe thought ‘ain’t that the truth’, but she couldn’t help noticing a tinge of regret in her voice. “I mean, we’re close, but not that close”.

“So if she didn’t tell you,” said Zoe, “how’d you find out?”

“Well, she just doesn’t talk much about other people my sister. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but she’s not exactly a people’s person. So when she started peppering her conversations with mentions of you…”

Zoe wondered why Sam would have peppered her conversations with mentions of her but thought that could be a subject for another time. There were more important questions right now.

“Your mind immediately jumped to sex?” asked Zoe.

“Mine, no. But I know my sister's mind like I know my own. It’s a twin thing” she added, unhelpfully”.

“In fact,” she continued “the last time she mentioned someone as much as she did you it was Shaw”.

Zoe almost choked again. “Wait what? She has sex with Sameen?”

Fred shrugged again. “Not yet”, she admitted “at least I don’t think so. But it’s only a matter of time”.

Zoe couldn’t really argue with her logic but still felt compelled to. “Zoe, I don’t know how well you know Shaw, but she’s the least sexual person I know”.

Fred smirked, “I somehow doubt that”.

By that time, Zoe had talked enough about her closest friends’ presumptive sex lives and so she decided to give the girl the point and shut up. Fred wasn’t done so easily though.

“You… you weren’t in love with her?” she asked cautiously.

“What? Sam?” Zoe felt like laughing but didn’t think her twin sister would take it too well and went for a more diplomatic “I know her better than that”. 

“Good. Good” nodded Fred, apparently satisfied with Zoe’s answer.

“Root,” said Fred after staring out of the window for a while, Zoe happily perusing the menu.

“Hmm,” said Zoe, who was quite happy with silence.

“I heard she wants to be called Root,” said Fred with what Zoe thought was anxiousness in her voice. 

“She does” confirmed Zoe. “It’s been going on for a while and I have no idea what it’s about. Don’t worry, it’s just a phase. ‘Like when she wanted a threesome’ she mentally added but didn’t think Fred needed that information. “She’ll grow out of it. She always does.”

It was Fred’s turn to drum on the linoleum and Zoe wondered what was going on in her mind to have her so worried.

“No, she won’t. Sam will disappear and Root will replace her because Root gives her license to do stuff”.

“What kind of stuff?” asked Zoe.

“I’m not privy to the details,” said Fred, “but knowing my sister…. Root steals. Root hacks. Root kills. Sam doesn’t do that stuff, but Root does. And one day, she’ll just forget which is which or she just won’t care anymore.”

Zoe shuddered. Suddenly she was glad Shaw was going to be trailing after Root. If anyone could keep Root’s worst instincts in check, it was her… probably.

“Don’t worry. She’s with Sameen. She’ll take care of her”.

Fred nodded “It’s good they have one another. But Shaw won’t be able to stop her, you know.”

Zoe nodded. Suddenly she wasn’t that hungry anymore.

“What do you say we ditch this place?” she asked Fred.

————————————————

Back in Zoe’s room, Fred was still in a gloomy mood that didn’t fit her flowery dress and shoes. 

“I have one too, you know,” Fred said and Zoe’s stomach tightened.

“What’s that?” asked Zoe.

“An alter ego.” Said Fred.

“Oh yeah? What’s she like?” asked Zoe.

Fred smiled “she’s terrifying and beautiful. Calls herself the primordial demon Illyria will rip you apart if you look at her the wrong way but capable of empathy and mercy.”

“Do the dragons have something to do with her?” Zoe asks.

Fred looks at her with a strange look in her eyes. “The dragons? She didn’t create them if that’s what you’re asking. She killed them and saved Los Angeles. And the world” Fred lets Zoe swallow all that and adds “you’re welcome” with a sheepish grin.

Zoe tries to remember headlines about this. She’s pretty sure she would remember something of this magnitude. Fred seems to know what she’s thinking because she says “you would be surprised at how much people don’t see what they don’t want to see”. 

“Is that you talking or Illyria?” Zoe asked who can’t help being fascinated.

“Both of us” Fred says. “When Illyria decides she wants to talk to you, you’ll know it”.

“Something tells me this is not something I want to happen”.

Fred smiles “I knew you were smart. She used to want to lead an army of mortals but she doesn’t do that stuff anymore.”

Zoe gulps again, not sure what she can say to that.

“I’m just telling you all this because I’m worried” Fred continues. “I control Illyria, I never let her be the main driver and we learn from each other.” 

She picks at her dress. “I’m not sure how much of that is true for my sister.”

“I don’t think Sam would hurt you” Zoe begins and Fred interrupts her. “But what about others? What about innocent people who get killed in the middle of one of their fights? Can you really tell me she cares?”

Zoe grabs Fred’s hand. “Root is not like that. Does she have questionable ethics and a penchant for violence? Sure. But…” Zoe looks for a proper analogy. “Root doesn’t do mindless carnage. Root is all about precision and calculated damage.”

“How would you know that?” Fred asks.

“Because that’s how she made love,” Zoe says quietly.

Fred thinks about it “That does sound like my sister” she admits. She quickly wipes away a tear Zoe pretends not to notice and laughs “Look at me, worrying about my sister, like she’s not a big girl perfectly capable to handle herself”.

“And she also has Shaw.”

Fred thinks about it again and the door knocks.


	3. Root is leaving

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Root sucks at goodbyes and Shaw has to handle it.

Shaw has found a mars bar to snack on. That makes her extremely happy. When she enters Root’s room she has to stop a gulp. She doesn’t like what it means, but the sight of Root in a grey sleeveless t-shirt, her toned arms in full sight, filling her suit with practiced gestures does think to her body she’d rather not think about. 

“Like what you see, sweetie?”

There’s a slightly teasing tone in Root’s voice but Shaw knows Root is proud of Shaw’s undivided attention. She just knows it, but decides to skip the flirting pleasantries for once.

“So you leaving?”

Root nods “I have to. For her sake”.

“Whose sake exactly?”

Root huffs “Fred’s. There’s some really bad, really powerful after her and I need to know who and I need to know why”.

“Sounds dangerous” says Shaw.

“Probably is” confirms Root, still packing and unpacking.

“I’m coming with” said Shaw in a voice she hoped was firm. 

That made Root stop and look at Shaw more closely.

“Are you sure about that?” she asked and Shaw just nodded because she wasn’t sure what would come out if her mouth opened. 

“Do you like… danger?” she asked, her voice lower than Shaw ever remembered it to be. She gulped again. Root pressed Shaw against the wall, her leg nestled between Shaw’s legs and she played around with Shaw’s collar.

“That could be a good idea. I might need someone to…. Look after me.”

Shaw wasn’t sure she would have put it that way but she couldn’t agree more with the sentiment. She would feel sad if something happened to Root and she hadn’t been there to prevent it. And Root made Shaw feel more already.

Root blinked and just as suddenly as playtime had started, it was over. “Fuck” she said and then again, in case Shaw hadn’t heard her hte first time: “Fuck”.

“What is it?” asked Shaw.

“I’m gonna need to tell my sister”.

“Let me. I can deal with Fred.”

“Would you?” asked root and Shaw caught something in her voice she hadn’t heard before: Fear and loneliness.

“Don’t worry” confirmed Shaw, “I’ll do it”. She frowned, as if something had just occured to her. “Though I suppose that means I’ll have to see Zoe again. Ugh.”

Root snickered. “I don’t know what you have against her, Zoe’s been a great friend to me. And you’re right, Zoe might be… looking after Fred right now”. She snickered again. 

Shaw frowned again. “Zoe? But she’s so not sexual”.

“You’d be surprised” said Root, a look in her eyes Shaw wasn’t sure she liked.

“I guess you’d know” said Shaw.

“Yep” was Root’s only answer and Shaw cleared her htroat. This whole conversation was way out of her comfort zone. “Anyway, I better be going, I’ll be leaving you to…” She made a vague gesture towards the neatly folded clothes. “Whatever you were doing”.

“It’s called packing your bags, Shaw. And that’s something you better get on to as well, cause I wanna be leaving sooner rather than later.”

“No worries, I’m already packed” said Shaw. She always had a packed bag under her bed. Experience showed, you never knew when you had to leave in the middle of the night, and experience had proven her right again.

“I’ll be back in 20” she said, closing Root’s door again. If she was going to do it, she was going to need some food to help her.

——————— 

When she knocked on Zoe’s door, she heard some noise from the other side and then “come in”. Opening the door, Shaw couldn’t help feeling something was off. Fred and Zoe were sitting on the bed, both with their hands on their laps, as if they were a pair of teenagers who had just been caught doing something they shouldn’t be doing. Could Root have been right about them?

Shaw didn’t know how to deal with that and so she went with a ‘what’s up losers”.

Zoe snorted “graceful as ever I see”.

Shaw shrugged and took a bite off her apple.

Zoe frowned. “For god’s sake, Shaw, are you eating again?”

“It’s an apple. It’s healthy.” Said Shaw.

Fred gently interrupted their bickering. “Why are yo here, Sameen?” Fred was the only one who still called her that. Shaw thought Sameen made her too feminine but she tolerated it when it came from Root’s sister. 

“Oh, yeah right” said Shaw. This had the potential to blow up in her face. Better be as blunt about it as possible.

“It’s a message from your sister. We’re leaving.”

“What? When? Where?” asked Zoe and Fred together, none of which being questions Shaw had bothered to get an answer to.

“Up North” she said, taking a guess. Root had mentioned very bad people with much power, but she decided that was information Fred definitely didn’ tneed to hear.

“Thank you Shaw” said Zoe and Shaw couldn’t begrudge Zoe’s glacial tone. She wasn’t the most socially graceful person but even she thought Root could have handled it better. It just hadn’t occured to her before, she had just wanted to help out Root.

“Just… just let us know you’re ok?” asked Fred.

“Yeah, sure, I’ll tell you when we’re not dead” said Sameen and even before she got a severe look from Zoe she knew she could have worded it better.

“Anyway, gotta be going. She wants to be leaving sooner rather than later”.

“I bet” was Zoe’s iciy response.

“Well, uh, take care?” was Shaw’s only response. She didn’t do well with passive agressiveness. As she closed the door, she saw Fred’s head resting on Zoe’s shoulder while Zoe had her arm around Fred’s shoulder. ‘There might be something to Root’s theory’ Shaw thought and smirked.


	4. First Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's some kissing going, finally.

“I’m sorry” Fred was mumbling into Zoe’s shoulder, tears staining Zoe's leather jacket.

“It’s ok”, said Zoe, awkwardly patting the girl in a desperate attempt to soothe the girl.

“I always knew she was going to leave," Fred continued to talk into Zoe's shoulder, "I just didn’t expect it to be that soon. That abruptly”.

'That's Root for you' thought Zoe. 'Big brain, but ain't got social graces for shit'. She didn't think it prudent to voice her thoughts to her twin sister though.

“So I was thinking. Maybe we should kiss?” said Fred in the same tone of voice she would have used to add an item to the to-do list. Not for the first time and not for the last time, Zoe almost choked.

“I’m sorry. I thought you said you and I should kiss” she said.

Fred shrugged, the same way her sister did, Zoe couldn’t help but notice.

“Well yeah. This is awkward” she said, gesturing between the both of them.  
“We’re probably gonna have to be in each other’s company for the not so distant future and I’d hate for things to stay awkward.”

‘That was new’ Zoe thought. The whole basis of her relationship with Shaw and Root was awkwardness. She was curious to know it could be something else.

“Assuming I don’t disagree with you,” said Zoe, “what makes you think I’d even want to kiss you?”

“You slept with my sister,” said Fred. “We’re basically the same. Except, you know, I’m the better version” she added without false modesty. “Besides, you wouldn’t want to disappoint Illyria?”

“What’s she got to do with that?” Zoe asked. She was dying to know but also really didn’t want to know, which was a feeling she thought Germans really should have a word for.

“She suggested it of course,” said Fred and when Zoe stared at her in horror she hastily said “don’t worry, it was just a joke. We don’t have that kind of relationship, me and Illyria. I told you, don’t let her be the driver in m head unless I need her to”.

“And what kind of situation would that be?”

“The kind that hopefully never happens again,” said Fred in a tone of voice that suggested she wouldn’t take kindly to further questions. Which suited Zoe, cause she was all out of them for the moment anyway. Zoe decided to go back to a slightly more familiar topic of discussion.

“Us. Kissing” said Zoe, making sure she hadn’t misheard.

“I’m not saying we should just get naked and hop into bed together,” said Fred and that almost made Zoe laugh because that was pretty much what had happened whenever she'd come over to Root's. But soon enough that laughter died when she imagined Fred naked. She almost felt like slapping herself. Of course, that soap opera high school bullshit had to happen to her. 

"How about talking? What's wrong with talking?" suggested Zoe. "Pretty sure that would also take away any awkwardness".

Fred shuffled her feet, unable to look at Zoe. "I've got to confess something," she said. "I lied. It has nothing to do with this being awkward. I just really, really want to kiss you".

And that made Zoe's stomach do things she hadn't felt in a while. Kissing. That was something Sam had never been too big on and something Zoe had agreed to not having but had missed.

“A kiss would be nice,” Zoe said and she frankly didn’t know where that had come from.

“You sure about it?” asked Fred, with hope in her eyes.

"I am," Zoe answered, "I just got one question".

"Shoot," said Fred.

"What happens afterward?" Zoe asked.

"Well, the way I see it, there's two options. One: we don't like it, we get over it because we're grown ass women and it's something to laugh about in the future." 

That made sense to Zoe, but if she had to be honest, it wasn't an option she was too thrilled about.

"Two," continued Fred "we like it and see where it takes us one step at a time."

"Sounds reasonable enough I suppose" Zoe answered.

"Good. Now shut up and kiss me" said Fred with a smirk.

Root had never been too big on kissing. But Zoe had an inkling her twin might feel differently about that and she couldn't wait to find out.


End file.
